David Ross enjoying some R&R

Our customer loyalty is proving most profitable for CPW:

The boss in question is David Ross, 41, and I am not the only one with reason to be grateful for the invention of the mobile. Ross is deputy chairman of Carphone Warehouse, one of Europe’s largest phone retailers, which he set up in 1989 with Charles Dunstone, an old friend from Uppingham school. With an estimated fortune of £562m, Ross is number 113 on this year’s Sunday Times Rich List, and bought Nevill Holt, parts of which date back to the 13th century, in 2000. Its last incarnation was as a boys’ prep school, and it was on the market for £1.1m, though Ross is coy about saying how much he paid for it.

Ahhh. Isn’t that nice? My house cost almost that much but you know, not quite.

(I’m feeling a little class rage at the moment. If you’ll excuse me….)

An article about David Ross’ garden in the Sunday Times

Technorati Tags: Carphone Warehouse, Talk Talk, ADSL, DSL, rich people

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Suzanne sizzling about changing direct debit date

Billing, billing, billing. I understand. At the end of the month my bank account is emptier than my birthday tub of Cherry Garcia. It’s pretty sensible to want to put your direct debit at the beginning of the month. Less hassle for everyone right?

have been on the phone now for 2 HOURS!! arrrrrrgghhhh
all i want to do is move my direct debit date forward by 2 days, so it coincides with the start of the month instead of the end of the month – for obvious reasons!
but can i find anyone who can make that change???!!!!?!?!????!!….. no
being passed from pillar to post, think i’ve spoken to someone from every department.
it seems the only person who can do anything is charles dunstone himself /
stupid way to run a business, oh and now the serious complaints team (there are 4 people for the uk – internal phone numbers only, nobody can actually phone them from outside) they cant take any calls until 2.30…..

Can anyone help Suzanne?

Technorati Tags: Talk Talk, Carphone Warehouse, ADSL, DSL, bad customer service

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Austin not wanting to take it on the chin

Hi guys!

Remember me? Wish me a happy birthday. It was last week.

Well, yeah, updating again. I wanted to give our fine friends in the legal department enough time to scour us for anything potentially defamatory. I have lots to get through, so let’s get cracking!

i have had very high pings and slow internet since the 28/8

was fine before that date (had the free broadband since june)

i use a router ….3 pcs hardly any downloading at all, just browsing ebay and a few hours gaming online ….

pings are now 300+ in the evenings ……..worst than dial-up!

slow internet ………and slow download speeds

sent help emails to talktalk support… but nothing more than those stupid auto replies…..its not my computers fault , i have another broadband connection to test it

(telewest blueyonder…… since it first came out …i highly recommended it now!

phoned them 2 times ……

first time (30 min wait !)…….to be told systems are down ….call back another time

phoned them tonight (3 days later with the same wait time) we upgrading the exchange !we got crossed wires at the moment!

and told again!! that systems are down ….he cant diagnose the issue

phone again tommorow…..

MUPPPET SUPPORT… 2BIT SUPPORT

Pinging bbc.com [212.58.227.73] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 212.58.227.73: bytes=32 time=219ms TTL=247

Reply from 212.58.227.73: bytes=32 time=217ms TTL=247

Reply from 212.58.227.73: bytes=32 time=218ms TTL=247

Reply from 212.58.227.73: bytes=32 time=223ms TTL=247

Ping statistics for 212.58.227.73:

Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),

Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:

Minimum = 217ms, Maximum = 223ms, Average = 219ms

….IM SOO MAD!

We hear you Austin. We really, really understand.

Anyone have any advice? Bad ping times, excuses, no solution?

Talk to Austin

Technorati Tags: Talk Talk, Carphone Warehouse, adsl, dsl, broadband

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Talk Talk outage 11/9 7:44

I return home, cook my dinner and think ‘I need to update the Talk Talk Hell site.’ I logon and everything is fine for about oh, 30 minutes. Then DNS goes. And now it’s error 721, ‘the remote computer is not responding.’ The light on my modem is blinking (line synch) and I have no broadband.

How I love you, Talk Talk.

One of my coworkers mentioned them as a possible future ISP today. My reaction was so violent as to make them start a bit.

He’s now investigating Sky.

7:48: Still blinking….

7:55: Still blinking, have rebooted PC.

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New comment policy

In response to Carphone Warehouse’s request, all comments will now be moderated.

In addition, I am implementing the following rules:

1. Any comment containing unsubstantiated claims regarding Carphone Warehouse’s policies, or internal workings will not be approved.

2. If you are a member of staff, please do not include this in your comment. Recommendations are recommendations and will be treated accordingly but not as statements of fact. Unless there is compelling evidence that what you say is true, I can’t publish it.

Thanks guys.

Good thing, bad thing

I may as well begin with the good. I noticed a jump in traffic yesterday. That’s because we got a blurb in the technology Guardian:

Check it here

The petition is a bit difficult to find at the moment due to the site’s redesign. There is a reason for this, which is the bad thing. Things will slowly start reappearing as I assess them for potential damage.

On September 13th I received an e-mail from YFouquet at the Carphone Warehouse. They claimed the following:

1. The blog claimed defamatory statements
2. The blog was an incitement to harass employees
3. The blog was violating the Data Protection Act of 1998
4. The logo was infringing on their copyright.

I disagree with a lot of these things but have made what I consider to be reasonable edits in an attempt to cooperate. I haven’t sent it yet but below is the e-mail to their legal team. Several of these edits were mentioned specifically in the original letter.

I’ve had to remove or edit several posts proclaiming to be from Carphone Warehouse Employees. CPW claims that all statements were untrue and misrepresentative of the company’s practises.

I am particularly annoyed they keep calling me sir.

So you guys know, I have no intention of closing this site. We’ve had various comments from people who have been helped enormously by the information here, which is the intent behind setting it up in the first place. I’m just going to have to be a bit more vigilant when it comes to the comments and what is posted.

Here’s what I’m sending:

*WITHOUT PREJUDICE, SAVE US TO COURT COSTS*

Dear Sir,

Sincere apologies for any issue the blog may have caused, I assure you they were published in good faith. I have edited the site to address your specific concerns as detailed in your letter and other possible causes for concern. If the listed edits are insufficient, please can you provide me with an exhaustive list containing the direct link, part of post you find infringes on your rights and reason you (the Carphone Warehouse) believe it is defamatory (and not simply vulgar.) I will then address them accordingly on a case by case basis.

I hope we can work together to resolve potential issues in the future.

Kind Regards,
Tiffany

E-mail continues below:

You will find the following:

1. The Talk Talk Hell logo has been removed and replaced

2. Phone numbers and information not already publicly available for CPW employees has been removed.

3. The following posts and comments have been edited, deleted, or protected:

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/09/06/dee-was-in-deep-but-has-now-found-freedom/

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/09/06/more-numbers-can-they-fix-it/ – protected. Numbers removed.

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/09/06/edward-irked/ (added ‘according to the below’)

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/09/05/juneaugust-still-confusing/
‘The difference between June and August, (in many reader experiences,) for Talk Talk is minimal so as to be completely non-existent:’

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/09/05/usual-password-problems-sam-cant-get-no-satisfaction/
Comment removed.

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/09/04/manfred-maddened-by-our-flagrant-number-abuse-of-the-numbers/
Added: It’s taken up to 3 hours to actually talk to someone and when you do, they don’t seem to be able to help you.

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/09/04/outages/
Remember, this is just opinion.

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/09/02/new-router-solves-connection-problem/
removed
http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/24/good-news-everyone/
Last names removed from comment

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/24/fido-responds-to-post-about-cpw-sales-pimping/
Added (alleged) to Fido’s call centre claims

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/24/green-giant-not-so-jolly/
Edited for content
http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/24/loannis-loathes-talk-talk/
Edited for content
http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/23/finally-caught-up-to-a-recommendations-round-up/
Removed e-mail addresses.

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/22/llu-causing-all-sorts-of-problems-bt-or-talk-talk-or-both/
Comment parodying Charles Dunstone removed

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/22/cpw-employee-pimps-out-the-carphone-warehouse-merchandise/
Alleged added to title
No one in the call centre I (Ed: Added alleged) work in “p**s about adding things like caller divert to peoples accounts for them instead of actually sorting issues!” as you so bluntly put it.

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/22/physical-addresses-for-talk-talk/
Removed Charles Dunstone’s e-mail address
Removed customer liason e-mail address

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/22/mds-e-mail-address/
Post is now private

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/22/j-sees-justification-for-complaints/
Added ‘allegedly’
Edited for content
http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/21/for-every-one-cpw-employee-writing-to-tell-us-were-wrong/
Alleged added to title
(satanic removed) Talk Talk are s***** (Ed: Removed as requested by CPW PLC’s legal team.)

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/19/darrens-got-the-numbers/
–A (alleged) talktalk tech—

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/19/some-tips-from-a-new-cpw-employee/
Added ‘alleged’ to title

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/19/andrew-thinks-we-should-just-bite-it-and-give-money-to-the-lebanese/
Added alleged to description of employees
Added ‘in my opinion’

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/19/gash-is-gouged/
Removed comments from ‘charles’

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/18/right-to-respond-kind-of/
Added alleged
Removed phone number

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/18/christopher-has-some-excellent-recommendations/
removed e-mail addresses

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/17/insane-homer-saner-than-dunstone/
Title changed, ‘Insane Homer saner than Dunstone’ to ’saner than some practises’

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/17/they-definitely-dont-have-it-together/
Removed comment
http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/09/we-should-get-fido-chipped/
Removed comment
http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/09/lots-of-tips-from-cpw-salesman/

Edited for content
http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/09/lakhbir-charged-and-he-didnt-even-sign-up/

Edited for content

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/09/onetel-customer-or-talk-talk-employee-cant-spell-losers/

Edited for content

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/09/darren-gives-tips-for-ofcoms-customer-guide/
Removed comment containing mobile phone numbers of two directors (saved)

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/07/fido-the-faithful-the-insiders-perspective/
Removed: the insider’s perspective.
Removed: was to apologise on the part of Talk Talk customer services.

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/07/talk-talk-employee-speaks-and-the-outlook-is-sunny/
Edited for content
http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/07/the-5-fundamentals/
Edited for content
http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/07/fido-the-faithful/
Edited for content
Edited for content
http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/04/good-morning-guys-message-from-a-carphone-warehouse-employee/
Post deleted.

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/02/phone-number-for-high-level-complaints-department/

Comment removed (saved)

Comment removed: (saved)

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/02/dunstone-likes-his-art/
Comment removed: (saved) Fidothedog

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/02/charles-dunstone-on-bbc-money-tonight/

Comment removed

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/07/31/nav-the-impaler-hopefully-not-of-customers/
Post protected

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/07/27/i-want-your-tips-complaintswhatever/
Removed comment:(saved)

Removed comment:(saved) please press 1:
http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/09/04/manfred-maddened-by-our-flagrant-number-abuse-of-the-numbers/

Edited for content

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/24/fido-responds-to-post-about-cpw-sales-pimping/
http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/22/cpw-employee-pimps-out-the-carphone-warehouse-merchandise/
Post protected, no longer public.

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/22/j-sees-justification-for-complaints/
Post protected, no longer public

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/21/for-every-one-cpw-employee-writing-to-tell-us-were-wrong/
Edited for content
http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/19/some-tips-from-a-new-cpw-employee/
Edited for content

Comment removed

Commenr removed (saved:) Mohammed#721 ou guys make me laugh!

Comment removed (saved:) curved slightly:i reiterate!

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/19/a-nice-reminder-from-a-cpw-employee/
Edited for content
http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/18/right-to-respond-kind-of/

Post protected, no longer public

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/23/paul-is-p-od/

Edited for content
http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/2006/08/09/darren-gives-tips-for-ofcoms-customer-guide/
Edited for content

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Stewart stewing about odd charges

This is the first I’ve heard of Carphone Warehouse even insinuating that they call people (and then saying they don’t anymore…) But the final notice story is the same as various others. Any recommendations for Stewart?

I was a customer of OneTel for four years. I always paid my bills by DD and in the main I had no problems. Then Carphone bought Onetel at the same time as I moved. Onetel told me that as I was keeping the same number they had an arrangement with BT and the ADSL woudl follow five days later. It did not. Eventual the lady in India told me twenty one days. I could not wait that long (having already been without a service for over a week) so I cancelled my contract and allowed one more DD payment to go through before cancelling the mandate.

Turns out according to the Indian people I owe them £1.56 although they requested the full payment of £23.99 after which they would refund me. I have just paid their debt collection agency CCS £26.15 (no idea where they got that figure from but that is not important) at least CCS have a web site that works.

The money is not the issue for me. What bothers me is the dishonest trading practices that are being employed i.e. stating in the standard worded letter entitled FINAL NOTICE “we have attempted to contact you by phone and letter on several occasions … ” when I asked when? I was told “we no longer phone people” and the letters “oh we definitely sent them”

I will never use Car Phone Warehouse OR The Phone House (as they are known in France) OR OPAL Telecom (I am an IT Director) again. I have written to David Cowan Legal and Litigation manager at OneTel and if I ever get a response will post it here but somehow I doubt it!

Is this a case of 6 months down the line billing? Talk to Stewart

Technorati Tags: Carphone Warehouse, Talk Talk, ADSL, DSL, bad customer service, free broadband, broadband

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Dee was in deep but has now found freedom

Hooray! Deehell went through various steps to get his Talk Talk connection…. not so connected. Read through his comment below:

I was trying to cancel my order following a talktalk phone billing problem (of their making – they didn’t act on my direct debit then cut me off whilst I was on holiday and wouldn’t accept responsibility for the problem – read the gory details here:

http://samsethi.typepad.com/sethi/2006/07/mr_dunstone_you.html

Not sure which your helpful suggestions have worked, I’d tried the (non-existent) Compliance Manager ( stevethompson@cpwplc.com) that comes back with “delivery can not be completed”; the normal customer service customer service email (and got an automated holding message) and the David Thatcher (ThatchDO2 email above). And I signed the petition too. One (or more) of those did the trick:

I got this back from email : TalkTalk1@cpwplc.com

“Many thanks for your email which arrived on my desk this morning.

May I firstly take this opportunity to apologise for the below standard of customer service that you feel you have experienced I can confirm, as per your enquiry, your Broadband service with us is now disconnected. [NB: it had never actually happened after 4 months and I'm still on my Bulldog connection but I wanted reassurance that they were not trying to migrate me to their 18 month contract that I've now (thru this site) seen the problems with]

Should you wish to escalate your complaint further, please email our escalations team on CustomerServices@talktalk.co.uk.

Kind regards

Barry R

TalkTalk

High Level Complaints Dept

Balcarres Road

Preston

Lancashire”

There’s more on Deehell’s comment on the ‘things you can do’ post.

Good to hear success stories!

Technorati Tags: Talk Talk, Carphone Warehouse, ADSL, DSL, free broadband, broadband, bad customer service

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ADSL guide has run down of LLU issues

For those of you who have had issues after work was done on your exchange, read through ADSL guide’s article.

The monthly update from the Office of the Telecoms Adjudicator has been published, which shows that the UK now has in excess of 735,000 LLU lines. The total in the previous month was 673,000. The full report can be found on www.offta.org.uk.

The report raises concerns about issues like Right First Time delivery, which can be seen on our forums with the number of people migrated onto an LLU platform by their provider who subsequently have issues with their connection. Sometimes these issues are LLU based e.g. to do with the work carried out by Openreach or the LLU providers own kit, but very often it is the teething problems of moving from a fixed speed to a rate adaptive service. For many the rate adaptive up to 8Mbps ADSL services work well, but most seem to suffer a few more disconnections than is normal in the first day or so. Where service providers are moving customers in bulk to an LLU platform this can result in people reporting faults when its just bedding in issues, as they may not have been aware of the switch over date.

ADSLguide

Worth a read.

Technorati Tags: Talk Talk, Carphone Warehouse, ADSL, dSL, free broadband, broadband, LLU

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What’s service like at the Link?

Apparently Carphone Warehouse isn’t content advertising for jobs, they’re now trying to snatch away staff from various Link stores around the country:

The Carphone Warehouse is looking to poach staff from the soon-to-be-sold Link chain.

The retail giant sent recruitment packs to The Link stores across the country, inviting sales staff to apply for new jobs at Carphone.

‘They sent seven postcards across, one for each member of staff,’ one salesman told Mobile. ‘They basically said “come join us”.’

Carphone store managers in some areas are also known to have approached local Link staff directly, hoping to fill vacancies quickly.

According to sources at The Link, staff morale has dropped since the proposed sale to O2, although some are pleased to take up new jobs with the operator.

However, Carphone may have made a crucial mistake. One Link salesman said: ‘The letters were addressed to the store managers, so most of them went straight in the bin.’

Anyone know what service was like through the Link?

Mobile Technology

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